Sisi Wins Enough Popular Support to Register for Presidential Election
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Head of Egypt’s Armed Forces Abdel Fattah el-Sisi gained strong popular support needed to register as a candidate in Egypt's presidential election, his campaign announced.
A legal adviser of Sisi, the country's former military chief who orchestrated the 2013 overthrow of the then president, Mohamed Mursi, delivered the 200,000 signatures to the election commission on Monday.
Candidates must secure at least 25,000 signatures from at least 15 of Egypt's 27 provinces in order to run in the election, which is scheduled for May 26 and 27.
Sisi was the first hopeful to submit the signatures and more continue to pour into his campaign headquarters in Cairo.
It is a "unique example of support and national backing", Sisi's campaign said.
Hamdeen Sabahi, a left-wing politician how finished third in the 2012 presidential election, is likely to be Sisi's main rival.
Sisi is however expected to win. He has enjoyed nationwide support in the nine months since the removal of Mursi.
However, he has yet to announce an election manifesto, AP reported.
The two days of voting are the second phase in a political plan announced by Sisi the day he removed Mursi while defence minister and head of the army.
The first was the drafting and adoption by referendum in January of a new constitution. The presidential ballot will be followed by a parliamentary election later this year.
The EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said on Monday that the EU would send an electoral observation mission to Egypt for the May election.
